How and why do you think the definitions of "The South" have changed over time?

The main reason why views of the South have changed over time is that many of the unique features of the southern states have become less distinctive and less common as a result of mass media and their effect on homogenization of the United States. Although southern regional cuisine exists, it is no longer exclusively southern (one can find fried chicken anywhere in the United States) and in most areas of the south, one sees precisely the sort of fast food chains one does anywhere else in North America. The old plantation system of agriculture, with rich white landowners using black slave labour, has been replaced by modern agribusiness. Many southern cities such as Atlanta and the Research Triangle have become industrial and technology hubs, increasingly drawing their populations from a national, and even international labour pool. Mass media portrayals of the "new south" have changed people's perceptions of the region.